Academic Program Articulation Steering Committee

Meeting Notes

October 17, 2000

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Participants:

Members: Don Paul Benjamin (SBDCCA), Mary Briden (Maricopa), Judith Doerr (NPC), Carol Gorsuch (Pima), Kate Dillon Hogan (ABOR), Glenn Irvin (ASU West), Ron Pitt (via telephone, NAU), Martha Prumers (Advising ATF), Don Richardson (GEATF), Randy Richardson (via telephone, UA), Bruce Stanfield (EAC), Tom Trotter (ASU Main), Marcia Wojsko (ATAC)

Others: Holly Carpenter (doctoral student), Bill Fee (UA), Melissa Fitch (Languages ATF), Amy Fountain (CAS), Dave Padgett (Pima), John Porter (ASSIST), Julie Ramsden (ASU West), Rose Rojas (Maricopa), and Gretchen Schmidt (Interim Articulation Facilitator)

 

Agenda Item #1 – Call to Order, Welcome and Introductions

The meeting was called to order by co-chairs Glenn Irvin and Bruce Stanfield at 9:10 a.m. at Arizona State University West in Phoenix. Glenn welcomed everyone to the ASU West campus. The agenda was reordered to accommodate members’ scheduling needs. The meeting would begin with agenda items #2 and #3 and then skip to item #9 and continue.

The consent agenda was approved with one change. Item #13 (ATF Report Card), Bill Fee asked that the record show UAs attendance at the Business ATF meeting in April 2000. The record will reflect that change.

Agenda Item #3 – Establish APASC Goals and Define Strategies

Carol Gorsuch expressed concern that there was no mention of APASC’s leadership role in the draft Goals and Mission Statement. Don Richardson felt that the draft Goals were a starting point but needed to be focused and refined. Bruce Stanfield asked that a subcommittee be formed to work on the APASC Goals, he asked for volunteers. Bruce also expressed concern that the support people for APASC, including the Advising ATF, ATAC, GEATF, and ATASS staff, had no input into the APASC Goals. The committee action was to create a Goals subcommittee, the members are: Glenn Irvin (chair), Dave Padgett, Amy Fountain, Marcia Wojsko, Don Richardson, and Kate Dillon Hogan. Glenn Irvin will convene the subcommittee.

Agenda Item #9 – Completion of Accounting sequence at two different Arizona community colleges

Bruce Stanfield raised a concern that ASU will not accept Accounting courses when the sequence is not completed at the same institution. If a student takes the Accounting sequence at 2 different community colleges, s/he will have to repeat one section at either of the institutions. Bill Fee stated that the Accounting degree was outside the ABus. Kate Dillon Hogan noted that the sequence is identified as common courses so it applies to other degree programs. Bruce noted that his initial request for ASU to investigate the problem did not result in a positive outcome for the student. The student had to repeat one of the Accounting courses. He asked that ASU examine this issue, as it is an obstacle for students. Tom Trotter responded to Bruce’s concern. Tom noted that this is a long-standing view of his Accounting faculty, that it is clearly documented in the CEG. He stated that he would take the concern back to the faculty to reexamine in the spirit of transfer articulation. Carol Gorsuch asked if Tom Trotter knew what the rationale was behind the faculty’s decision. Tom Trotter stated that he has received 3 anecdotal responses, all having to do with students who were unprepared after taking the sequence at different institutions. Carol Gorsuch asked when the policy was instituted, was it before or after the agreement on standards. Tom Trotter said he would investigate and respond on this item.

Agenda Item #10 – Transfer Student Ombudsperson report to the JCC

Marta Prumers gave an overview of the TSO meeting that took place on September 22, prior to the Advising ATF meeting. The TSOs addressed specific APASC concerns at the meeting and Martha reported the discussion to APASC members. The TSOs concluded that a separate TSO meeting was not needed at this time and that they would continue to meet in a break-out session prior to the Advising ATF meeting. The role of the TSOs on campus was discussed, the universities agreed on a role description that was included in the June, 1998 report to APASC and a committee was formed to work on a description of the role of the TSO at the community colleges. A common form for documenting requests and decisions is being developed. Training needs were also addressed and will be discussed at future TSO meetings. The TSOs submitted their annual report to the JCC to APASC for review. APASC accepted the report and the report was included on the TATF and JCC agendas.

Agenda Item #11 – ASSIST demonstration

John Porter presented an example of the "deliverables" from ASSIST. John gave an overview of institutional data reports that can be processed once ASSIST is fully populated with data. John Porter stressed that institutions will only be able to view their data once ASSIST is running. Each institution will have a designated ASSIST person who will receive a copy of the analyst software, John has 120 other licenses, view only, that will be distributed to institutions as requested.

Agenda Item #14 – ATF Issues for Discussion

Gretchen Schmidt presented pending ATF issues for APASC consideration. The Engineering pathway has sequencing problems, if students at the community colleges take their General Studies in a lower division block, they may not have the prerequisites for the Math and Science courses needed for university Engineering programs. The committee action was to leave the pathway as a TG/XR, and continue to encourage students to follow the transfer guides. Kate Dillon Hogan felt that this was a short-term solution but questioned if there is anything that can be done to improve the pathway, and to create a breaking point for transfer students, something that signifies completion for the community college engineering student. Bruce Stanfield agreed and asked the GEATF to work toward closure so that the student has something that signifies completion.

APASC accepted the first reading of the disestablishment of the Dance ATF. Members asked that the Dance ATF members be notified and given an opportunity to respond prior to the February APASC meeting. Should the members of the Dance ATF want to continue meeting, it will be considered at the February APASC meeting.

The Humanities ATF issue, that no lower division courses in the major are accepted by ASU, will be addressed at their meeting on November 3rd. Dave Padgett is the ATAC member for that ATF and will communicate the conversation to the articulation facilitator.

A lengthy discussion followed about the Education pathway and teacher preparation at the universities and community colleges. Gretchen Schmidt is convening 2 subcommittees, one to frame the Special Education pathway and a second to frame the Secondary Education pathway. The subcommittees will report to the Education ATF at their February meeting and Gretchen will report the results to APASC at their February meeting. A proposal was forwarded by APASC to the JCC on teacher education. APASC recommended that a subcommittee be convened by the JCC consisting of the following membership: university Education deans, community college administrators, K-12 representatives, and APASC members, with the charge examining the role the community colleges may play in teacher education. This motion was passed and a proposal was developed for the TATF and the JCC. A copy of the proposal is attached to the minutes. In the discussion of the Education ATF meeting, Mary Briden raised an issue that relates to the Early Childhood ATF. A federal mandate has been adopted that requires all Head Start teachers to have an AA degree by 2001. Currently, there are no Early Childhood bachelors degree programs in the state. Mary Briden suggested developing a joint degree, possibly an ATP degree, from scratch for the AA in Early Childhood Education to articulate with on the university level.

The Geology ATF proposal, requesting that Geology be added to the list of permissible AGEC-S courses was remanded to the GEATF for consideration.

Agenda Item #8 – Language Proficiency

Melissa Fitch, the chair of the Languages ATF and a member of the Languages subcommittee reported on both Languages related agenda items. The Languages ATF passed unanimously a vote of confidence that certified language instructors at the community colleges can establish language proficiency. The subcommittee on fourth semester language proficiency was disbanded. An assigned Languages ATF member will work with the articulation facilitator to implement the proposal. The goal is to incorporate the outcome statements from the Languages ATF into the syllabi on all levels.

Language CLEP scores were also addressed. The Languages ATF noted that the cut scores and credit given for CLEP were different at all institutions. Melissa Fitch brought together a group of individuals to discuss language education in Arizona. The group decided to accept NAUs cut scores and credit given for the French, German and Spanish. The proposal was then brought to the Languages ATF and a compromise was adopted, NAUs CLEP scores and credit given would be adopted by all institutions and implemented in Fall 2001. The Languages ATF will monitor those individuals taking the test and their academic progress. This is a stopgap measure that is in effect for 2 years while the Languages ATF members monitor, they will then reexamine the issue and determine how to proceed. APASC members were concerned with how this new policy would be communicated to the registrars at the institutions. Bruce suggested that a 2 letters be drafted, one about the CLEP scores to be sent to the registrars, advisors and AZACRAO, a second letter at the institutional level which notes that certified language instructors at the community colleges can determine language proficiency. Gretchen Schmidt will draft the 2 letters on APASC’s behalf. APASC approved the following 2 proposals: CLEP scores and credit given for all Arizona institutions will be aligned with NAUs current guidelines and certified language instructors at the community colleges can determine language proficiency.

Agenda Item #4 – BAS Degree

Ron Pitt suggested that an APASC Task Force be convened to examine transfer issues as they relate to the BAS degree. The suggested membership is as follows: Ron Pitt (NAU, Chair), David Schwalm (ASU Polytechnic campus), Glenn Irvin (ASU West), Randy Richardson (UA South), Don Richardson (Maricopa), Dave Padgett (Pima), and a member from Arizona Western College, Central Arizona College, and Yavapai Community College, to be determined by the institution. Members proposed for membership may nominate someone else from his/her institution if s/he believes said designee could better represent the institution and the students in resolving this issue. The timeline identified is a preliminary report will be presented to APASC at the February meeting with a final report presented at the June meeting. APASC approved the creation of a BAS Task Force.

Agenda Item #7 – Common Courses

Ron Pitt gave an overview of the recommended language for the definition of common courses. APASC members recommended wording changes to Ron Pitt, as chair of the subcommittee. Ron asked that all wording changes be emailed to him. He will revise the document and forward it to Bruce and Glenn for review. The document will then be distributed to the APASC members, and once accepted, forwarded to the JCC for approval.

Agenda Item #19 – Joint Legislative Budget Committee Report from the Joint Conference Committee

Kate Dillon Hogan asked if there were any major changes or additions to the transfer piece of the report. Martha Prumers asked that the wording related to the advising function be changed. Kate asked that Martha email her suggested wording. Don Richardson asked about the inclusion of Appendix A as well as whether the report was too much information for the JLBC. Kate stated that the Appendix A would be included in the final report and that the report that APASC was reviewing was the formalized report, a summary sheet would be created and provided for the Legislature.

Agenda Item #16 – ATASS Budget Update

Kate Dillon Hogan reported that the budget has been approved by the community colleges and the universities and has been forwarded to OSPB and JLBC by the State Board, as part of their FY 2002-2003 budget request. Kate also reported that the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education report recommends full funding of the Transfer Model by the Legislature. Mary Briden asked about obtaining specific budget information so a placeholder could be added in the Maricopa budget in case the ATASS budget is not fully funded. Carol Gorsuch expressed a similar concern on Pima’s part. Gretchen Schmidt committed to follow up with Don Paul Benjamin and provide the information to Mary and Carol.

Agenda Item #17 – Presentation of results from CEO/CAO survey

Carol Gorsuch and Holly Carpenter gave an overview of the survey results. Carol asked APASC members if they had any questions or concerns with the results. There were none. Carol committed to draft a cover memo, with the help of Holly and Gretchen, for the mail out of the results to the CEO/CAOs.

Agenda Item #5 – GEATF proposals

Agenda Item #18 – ATF Training Survey

This item was tabled until the February APASC meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 2:50pm.